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End of Life Events and Causes of Death in Danish Long-Lived Siblings: Reduced Dementia Risk Compared to Sporadic Long-Livers.
- Source :
- Journal of Alzheimer's Disease; 2024, Vol. 99 Issue 4, p1397-1407, 11p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Background: Better physical robustness and resilience of long-lived siblings compared to sporadic long-livers has been demonstrated in several studies. However, it is unknown whether long-lived siblings also end their lives better. Objective: To investigate end-of-life (EoL) events (dementia diagnosis, medication, hospitalizations in the last 5 years of life), causes of death, and location of death in long-lived siblings compared to matched sporadic long-livers from the Danish population. Methods: Long-lived siblings were identified through three nationwide Danish studies in which the inclusion criteria varied, but 99.5% of the families had at least two siblings surviving to age 90 +. Those who died between 2006 and 2018 were included, and randomly matched with sex, year-of-birth and age-at-death controls (i.e., sporadic long-lived controls) from the Danish population. Results: A total of 5,262 long-lived individuals were included (1,754 long-lived siblings, 3,508 controls; 63% women; median age at death 96.1). Long-lived siblings had a significantly lower risk of being diagnosed with dementia in the last years of life (p = 0.027). There was no significant difference regarding the number of prescribed drugs, hospital stays, days in hospital, and location of death. Compared to controls, long-lived siblings presented a lower risk of dying from dementia (p = 0.020) and ill-defined conditions (p = 0.030). Conclusions: In many aspects long-lived siblings end their lives similar to sporadic long-livers, with the important exception of lower dementia risk during the last 5 years of life. These results suggest that long-lived siblings are excellent candidates for identifying environmental and genetic protective factors of dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- DISEASE risk factors
CAUSES of death
SIBLINGS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 13872877
- Volume :
- 99
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 177924788
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-231204